“I think everyone's dream is to be an actress, but I never really
thought it was going to happen. Now that it's happening, it's
incredible. I do a lot of other things, too. I'm not stuck in this
little world. I'm aware that we're in the middle of an economic crisis
in the U.S. There's a lot going on in the world, and I'm really happy
and excited about what I have and I don't take it for granted. I'm
pretty lucky.” Nina Dobrev

Bulgarian Canadian actress and model Nina Dobrev is famous for her
starring roles on the televisions series “Degrassi: The Next
Generation”, where she played Mia Jones from 2006 to 2009, and
The CW American television drama “The Vampire Diaries”
(2009-?). Playing Elena Gilbert / Katherine Pierce, she has won four
Teen Choice Awards, and in 2012, she was awarded the People's Choice
Favorite TV Drama Actress Award. Dobrev has appeared in several films,
including “Fugitive Pieces” (2007), “Chloe”
(2009), “The Roommate” (2011) and “The Perks of Being
a Wallflower” (2012).

Along with Joe Jonas, Dobrev co-hosted the Free the Children organized
We Day in September 2011. She also designed a T-Shirt with Me to We
Style, which dedicates 50% of its profits to Free The Children, and
built a school in Kenya with fellow “Degrassi: The Next
Generation” through the non-profit organization.

On a more personal note, Dobrev dated her “ The Vampire
Diaries” co-star Ian Somerhalder from 2010 until they split in
May 2013. She was named one of FHM Australia's “100 Sexiest Women
in the World of 2011”. She is best friends with Matt Lanter
and Sara Paxton. Dobrev enjoys water sports like swimming, windsurfing,
wake boarding, and scuba diving as well as other sports like
volleyball, soccer, horseback riding, snowboarding and rock climbing.
She was a competitive Gymnast as a teen.

Nikolina Konstantinova Dobreva

Childhood and Family:

Nina Dobrev was born Nikolina Konstantinova Dobreva on January 9, 1989,
in Sofia, Bulgaria. She has moved to Canada since age 2 and grew up in
Toronto, Ontario. Her father, Nikolai Dobrev, is a computer specialist
and her mother, Michaela Leveski Dobreva, is an artist. She has an
older brother named Alexander. Multi talented Nina, whose nickname is
Almond, began ballet and jazz classes while attending J. B. Tyrrell Sr.
Public School. As a teenager, she took part in in international
gymnastics competitions. Representing Canada, in 2005, she joined both
the Senior World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark and the Junior
World Championships in Plzen, Czech Republic. Nina also attended
Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts in Scarborough, Ontario, and
Ryerson University in Toronto, where she majored in Sociology. She left
school in 2008 to pursue a career in acting. She honed her craft with
Armstrong Acting Studio.

Degrassi: The Next Generation

Career:

Nina Dobrev did modeling and appeared in commercials before auditioning
for films. In 2006, she was cast as teenage Zytrate Addict in the short
film “Repo! The Genetic Opera”, directed by Darren Lynn
Bousman. The same year, she made her television film debut in the
Canadian comedy/drama “Playing House”, starring Joanne
Kelly, Lucas Bryant, and Colin Ferguson, and made her feature film
debut in “Away from Her”, a drama directed and written by
Sarah Polley and starring Julie Christie, Michael Murphy, and Gordon
Pinsent.

However, Dobrev did not gain her first big break until she was cast as
Mia Jones, the single teenage mother, on the Canadian teen drama series
“Degrassi: The Next Generation”. She began as a recurring
player in season six, moved on to regular in the seventh until eight
season, and lowered to guest star in the ninth season. She also
reprised the role in the web series “Degrassi: Minis”
(2007-2008), a spun-off from “Degrassi: The Next
Generation”, and the made for TV film “Degrassi Goes
Hollywood “ (2009).

Dobrev went on to appear in several films and television films like
“How She Move” (2007), a drama film directed by Ian Iqbal
Rashid and starring Rutina Wesley, Clé Bennett, “The
Poet” (2007), a Canadian drama film which she starred opposite
Colm Feore, Roy Scheider, Kim Coates and Daryl Hannah, “Fugitive
Pieces” (2007), a film adaptation of the Anne Michaels award
winning novel
of the same name, “Too Young to Marry” (TV, 2007),
“My Daughter's Secret” (TV, 2007), “Never Cry
Werewolf” (TV, 2008), “The American Mall” (TV, 2008),
“Mookie's Law” (2008), a Canadian short film written and
directed by Al Mukadam, and the short “You Got That Light”
(2009). She co-starred with Julianne Moore, Amanda Seyfried, Liam
Neeson in Atom Egoyan's “Chloe” (2009). Dobrev also made
guest appearances in television series “The Border” (2008,
as Maia) and “Eleventh Hour” (2009, as Grace Dahl) and
provided the voice of Cupid in a 30 minute TV animation, “Merry
Madagascar” (2009).

“I came to L.A. for the first time in January of this past year.
The Vampire Diaries was actually my first audition for a pilot. I read
the script, and I loved it. I thought it was really cool and I'd just
gotten off a series, so obviously I was trained and ready, and I knew
the drill and everything to do with it. It just sort of worked
out.” Nina Dobrev

Dobrev's next triumph arrived when she was cast as Elena Gilbert /
Katherine Pierce on the television series “The Vampire
Diaries”, an adaptation of L. J. Smith's book series of the same.
The show premiered on The CW on September 10, 2009 and has received
many award nominations. For her work on the series, Dobrev won a Teen
Choice for Female Breakout Star (2010) and an three more awards in the
category of Choice TV Actress: Fantasy/Sci-Fi (2010, 2011, 2012).

In 2011, Dobrev had a supporting role on the thriller film “The
Roommate”, which starred Minka Kelly, Leighton Meester, Cam
Gigandet, Danneel Harris, Matt Lanter, and Aly Michalka and was
directed by Christian E. Christiansen, and portrayed Kellan Lutz's wife
on the action film “Arena” . Both films received negative
reviews from critics. The same year, she lent her voice to the
television animated series “Family Guy” (the episode
“Trading Places”) and “The Super Hero Squad
Show” (the episode “This Man-Thing, This Monster! (Six
Against Infinity, Part 3)).

In 2012, Dobrev played the role of Candace Kelmeckis, Charlie's sister,
on the coming-of-age comedy/drama film “The Perks of Being a
Wallflower”, a film adaptation of the 1999 epistolary novel of
the same name. Starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, and Ezra Miller and
directed by the novel's author, Stephen Chbosky, the film earned
generally positive reviews from critics and grossed over $33 million
worldwide against a budget of $13 million. Dobrev shared a San Diego
Film Critics Society for Best Ensemble Performance for her performance
on the film.

Still in 2012, Dobrev was handed the People's Choice Award in the category of Favorite TV Drama Actress.

Dobrev will appear with Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. in the
upcoming action/comedy film “Let's Be Cops”, directed by
Luke Greenfield and co-written with Nicholas Thomas. The film is set to
be released in the Spring of 2014.

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Nina Dobrev for the win!Jimmy Fallon challenged the 25-year-old "Vampire Diaries" actress to a giant game of beer pong on Tuesday's episode of "The Tonight Show."While the late-night host started off...